Their First Kiss
by Creek-IB-08
Summary: "You wanna get dinner tomorrow?"  Nathan Wournos had known Audrey Parker for all of five months, but somehow she had become as essential to him as breathing.


**Author's Note: **This is a little fluffy one-shot that I originally wrote on August 5, 2010 but didn't quite like the way it worked. Then last weekend, with the lack of an episode, I decided to rework it a little and this is what came out. I hope you like it. As always, I welcome any questions, suggestions, or comments as well as constructive critisism in the form of reviews.

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Their First Kiss

**A Haven fanfiction**

**Spoilers**: A few for several episodes, specifically 'Welcome to Haven' and 'Ain't No Sunshine'.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of the characters below, but it's fun to pretend.

**Summary**: "You wanna get dinner tomorrow?" Nathan Wournos had known Audrey Parker for all of five months, but somehow she had become as essential to him as breathing.

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Nathan Wournos had known Audrey Parker for all of five months, but somehow she had become as essential to him as breathing. He knew how clichéd it sounded, even to himself, but he felt like he had known her all of his life. She knew him better than anyone else and she was the only person who readily accepted him for how he was without making him feel like a freak. When she found out about his condition that first day they met, she was curious and asked a couple of questions – which was natural he supposed since she has an inquisitive nature. But after that initial interest, she never made a big deal about it. It wasn't that she avoided it, she just didn't really think about it, most of the time. It was unimportant to her and she was able to see who he really was without the layers of protection he shrouded himself in. On the few occasions she did bring it up, it was in a joking manner designed to annoy him, not make him feel bad about himself.

Sure, the people around town were nice enough and he had literally known most of them ever since he could remember, but they were _all _still awkward about his condition. Most of them avoided anything more than a passing acquaintance with him. Then there were a few people like Duke Crocker who took every opportunity to put him down for not being able to feel. A long standing "joke" compared Nathan to Pinocchio and Duke took every chance to rub it in his face. Furthermore there was Chief Wournos, his own father, who although not necessarily harsh or judgmental could never fully understand and relate to Nathan.

So, Nathan had cut himself off from the world as best he could. He didn't have any real friends or even close acquaintances. He didn't have much of a social life, because who wants to be the butt of jokes and the reason everyone walks on egg shells or makes nasty comments? And his life was alright, not great, but he was relatively happy hiding behind his walls, putting on an impenetrable exterior that protected him from the rejection he had come to expect in life.

Taking all of that history into account, words could never describe the feeling – emotional not physical of course – that washed over him the day the blonde whirl wind known as FBI Special Agent Audrey Parker came into his life. She was unlike anyone he had ever met. She was so full of life and feelings and instinct and didn't take crap from anyone. She also had walls built around her, but gave an illusion of being open that he had never managed. She offered up tiny morsels of information that made you feel like she was truly opening up to you, then in the next instant she was brushing that aside and you realize the walls you just penetrated are simply decoys. The perfect example of this was their conversation on the top of the cliff. Audrey made an off handed comment about not having parental conflicts being raised by the state. With one comment he felt he had been let inside her protective walls, and was surprised he almost felt the need to reciprocate. When he interpreted her comment into, "You were an orphan?" and she replied, "I'm a free agent," he realized just how complicated she was and that he had only breached her first line of defense and was nowhere near inside the last of her walls. The next thing he knew, he was trapped. He had made it past her first layer of defensive walls – granted she let him in, but that's not the point – and he didn't want to be isolated outside of those walls ever again. But at the same time, he was confronted with a second layer of walls built higher and more sturdily that kept him out of her real emotions and inner thoughts.

*****HAVEN*****

As their partnership progressed over the next couple of weeks and months, both Nathan and Audrey started shedding their protective barriers, around each other anyway. Since neither was very open with their own lives, there was an implied safety that the secrets revealed to them would be just as well guarded. It was natural really since, neither really had many friends or a great desire for a social life, and more often than not they spent most of their down time together. Generally speaking at least two of their daily meals were eaten together. He picked her up from the Bed and Breakfast she had moved into or the diner down the road most mornings rather than having her drive since they almost always ended up in the same places all day. Evenings were also often spent together whether they were talking, watching TV, or generally ignoring each other absorbed in their own thoughts or activities. In those quiet moments over pancakes or finishing up paperwork in the almost deserted office, they slowly started sharing more and more about their lives, especially their less than pleasant pasts. Audrey shared stories about the numerous group and foster homes she had lived in, friends she had lost in the constant shuffle of "the system", and what led her to the FBI. Nathan opened up about his mom, his life before and after that pinnacle seventh year in 1983, and his struggle as a young man to connect to his father. The few nights they didn't spend in the other's company invariably ended in a phone call before they headed to bed.

The more time they spent together, the more they shared, the closer they got, the more they wanted to spend time together. Before anyone knew it, the two were best friends and almost inseparable – that is if you ignored the brief period of time that Nathan dated Jess Minion. Not the kind of people who readily encouraged physical contact (in fact when he was dating Jess even a kiss on the cheek in the office made him uncomfortable), it surprised them both that they seemed to find themselves touching more and more often, even if he couldn't actually feel it. It started out subtly – a brush of fingers as they passed a file, a hand to an arm or shoulder when out in the field to get the other's attention – and steadily grew more overt and frequent – Audrey resting her head on his shoulder while watching a movie, Nathan brushing errant bits of hair off her face. Then came the miraculous event sparked upon Jess's departure and the simple kiss on the cheek Audrey offered him that he actually felt. After that, he made sure to initiate even more physical contact. By the end of Audrey's third month in Haven, there were rumors all over town about the two of them being involved and why they kept it a secret. And as time passed, it got harder and harder to laugh the rumors off as unfounded.

Granted the rumors didn't stop men from flirting with Audrey or women with Nathan and, like the rumors themselves, it got harder and harder for them to fight the jealousy that climbed up and threatened to overwhelm any control they had. That is until finally the jealousy won and Nathan caved under the swell of emotion.

*****HAVEN*****

Duke had always (since high school anyways) been a pain in his ass, but when Audrey came to town it seemed to make the animosity double at least. Both men quickly developed a crush on the pretty spitfire and started vying for her attention. Duke, as could be predicted, went for the straight forward approach – hitting on her at every turn. Nathan, on the other hand, was far more subtle – getting to really know her and slowly make it behind her walls. The more that Nathan got to know Audrey, the more confident he became that _his_ approach would definitely win in the end, but that didn't make it any easier to ignore the other man intruding whenever he could. And one evening Nathan's tightly held control was broken by one such encounter.

It was precisely four months, three weeks, and a day since he had first drawn his gun on Audrey Parker (not that he was counting) and it was a rare clear evening featuring a full moon so the partners had decided on a late night stroll through town. Ok, Audrey had decided to take a stroll to soak in the beautiful evening claiming that a full moon was probably one of the most normal nights in Haven, and Nathan, ever the gentleman, had reluctantly offered to go with her. Walking down the empty sidewalks hands just barely brushing, they almost ran into Duke as he walked around the corner of a store. Never one to miss an opportunity, Duke made some comment about Audrey looking particularly lovely that evening and offering to show her a much better time than 'Pinocchio' could. Feeling Nathan tense beside her, Audrey was quick to shoot a scathing glare at him before icily telling him to get out of her sight before she pulled her gun. Raising his hands in surrender, the offender passed between them on his way back towards the docks and couldn't resist a parting shot at Nathan's expense.

Turning to her partner and best friend, Audrey was surprised at the barely constrained emotions flying across his face. When Nathan still hadn't seemed to relax after Duke's footsteps were long gone, Audrey carefully lifted her hand to his cheek and gently guided his eyes to hers. "Nathan? What's wrong? He's an ass, you know that. You know that I don't actually listen to –"

Before she could finish her thought, it was whipped out of her mind by the most amazing kiss she had ever had. It came from out of nowhere – one second Nathan was lost in his own head, the next he was crushing his lips over hers with an almost bruising urgency that somehow still managed to be slightly hesitant. When she got over the initial shock and started to respond to the kiss, Nathan seemed to realize how intensely he was kissing her and softened it to something much more intimate while pulling her body flush up to his. Pulling back seconds or hours later, breathless, Nathan marveled at the blush that tinged Audrey's face half hidden by her loose hair, and relished in the feelings stirring in his body that had been numb for so long. Lifting her chin with two fingers, Nathan studied her face a moment with his signature half smirk on his before kissing the tip of her nose and turning them back towards the bed and breakfast with his arm slung around her shoulders and hers around his waist.

*****HAVEN*****

"It's late, I should get home. You wanna get dinner tomorrow?" Nathan asked almost shyly as they reached her room.

"Sure, dinner sounds great. I'll cook for you at your place. You do have actual food at your place right?"

"I think I have something."

"Ok, we're stopping by the store on the way home after work. And if you don't complain about what I decide to make, I might just let you pick the movie," she replied before quickly pecking him on the lips again and closing her door before he could respond or she could lose her thin grasp on her self-control. In her room, Audrey leaned up against the door and tried valiantly to get her heart rate back under control. Who knew that Nathan would be such an amazing kisser? And it was about time that one of them made a move because she had been on the verge of going crazy with the we like-each-other-but-won't-acknowledge-it thing that had been going on probably since before Jess left town, but definitely after.

Meanwhile, Nathan couldn't keep the smile off of his face as he walked back out to his truck to head home. She probably hadn't even caught what she said, but there was no way that it was getting passed him. "On the way home," her voice echoed in his ears even as he walked through his front door and he knew his life would never be the same. They had only known each other about five months, hadn't even been on their first official date, and she had called his place 'home'. He didn't know how life could get any better, but he figured he'd find out after work the next evening on their date. He only hoped that nothing too 'Haven-y' could get in the way before he had a chance to find out.


End file.
